Passenger safety is unquestionably the foremost consideration in any transportation system. Unfortunately, the automobile, which is our most popular and most frequently used form of transportation, is also our least safe form of transportation. According to most experts, much of this unfortunate reality is due to the fact that many motorists fail to use available restraint devices while traveling in automobiles, trucks or similar type vehicles. Indeed, in attempts to encourage wider use of passenger restraint devices, much has been done to not only improve these devices but to also facilitate their use. Still, however, there are difficulties to be overcome.
Restraint devices which are useful for safely holding an infant or small child in a moving vehicle pose several problems in addition to those encountered with devices which are intended only for adult use. Not only must a child's restraint device be as effective as an adult's in protecting its occupant from the impact forces caused during a collision, it is also desirable that a child's restraint device be removeable from the car when it is not in use and be easily oriented for placement and removal of the child while the device is in the car.
Further, it is desirable that the restraint device be in combination with a chair which will provide comfort for the child. Although a chair seat of unitary construction might be efficacious for satisfying safety requirements, such construction is typically unwieldy within the confines of a vehicle. Consequently, several moveable infant car seats have been proposed which are intended to provide some degree of comfort for the child and, at the same time, facilitate both the placement of the child into the seat and the removal of the child from the seat while the seat remains secured to the vehicle.
As implied above, seats which can be moved, reconfigured or reoriented while in a vehicle are typically not unitarily constructed. Thus, moving parts involve additional consequent safety considerations. Further, these moving parts must be configured to cooperate in a way which does not compromise the structural integrity of the seat.
Several examples of moveable seats can be given. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,877 to Ettridge for an invention entitled "Children's Reclining Car Seats" discloses a seat which can be moved between a slumbering position and a sitting position. Further, though not specifically intended for automobile use, U.S. Pat. No. 1,577,807 to Orwick discloses a chair which can be swiveled on its pedestal. Still further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,346 to Young, which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, discloses and claims a child restraint device for use in a moving vehicle which can be both reclined and swiveled.
As effective as the above-cited devices may be for their intended purpose, the present invention recognizes there is still, and indeed always will be, room for improving such devices by either strengthening the devices for greater safety or by making them easier to handle and use. Furthermore, the present invention recognizes that these objectives are not mutually exclusive.
In light of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a safety car seat for children which is sufficiently rugged to withstand impact forces and restrain the occupant from movement which might otherwise cause death or severe injury. Another object of the present invention is to provide a safety car seat for children which distributes forces over larger surface areas of the seat to help optimize the seat's structural integrity. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a safety car seat for children which can be moved and reconfigured for the comfort of the child or for facilitating placement of the child into the seat or removal of the child from the seat. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a safety car seat for children which is easy to operate, relatively easy to manufacture and which is cost effective for its intended purposes.